Traffic and life on the road in Chennai

This is a discussion on Traffic and life on the road in Chennai within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Looks like the drum-barriers are not restricted to OMR. Yesterday evening saw them placed on the Chennai One road (opposite ...

Looks like the drum-barriers are not restricted to OMR. Yesterday evening saw them placed on the Chennai One road (opposite CTS), then on the road from Kamakshi hospital towards Velachery (as arvind71181 mentioned).

And today happened to come via the Pallavaram - Thoraipakkam road and saw these placed at atleast 2 places. It is around 8:30AM and traffic is sparse on this nice wide road. And suddenly when you reach one of these drum-barriers, it is a mini traffic jam with everyone trying to merge from the usual 3 lanes to a single-lane created due to these drums. Wonder how it would be during peak hours.

Some consolation that this idiotic practice is restricted to South Chennai and not (yet) in Central Chennai.

As if the 2 drum-barriers after SRP-tools junction were not trouble enough, today a 3rd one was added - in front of the HCL office.
Thanks CTP for doing all you can do to make travelling on the already choked city roads even more painful !!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

It is not just the OMR stretch. The entire GST Road from Guindy towards Vandalur has been barricaded in this fashion

Opposite the Shell fuel-station at Eekkaduthangal, they have another crude version of this idiotic bottle-neck, using those plastic road barriers. Till the metro work was in-progress, it was a pain travelling on this road, but after that was complete, they re-tarred the road and with the full width usable, it was a pleasure driving on this road, till they brought in this contraption.

Looks like the drum-barriers are not restricted to OMR. Yesterday evening saw them placed on the Chennai One road (opposite CTS), then on the road from Kamakshi hospital towards Velachery (as arvind71181 mentioned).

And today happened to come via the Pallavaram - Thoraipakkam road and saw these placed at atleast 2 places. It is around 8:30AM and traffic is sparse on this nice wide road. And suddenly when you reach one of these drum-barriers, it is a mini traffic jam with everyone trying to merge from the usual 3 lanes to a single-lane created due to these drums. Wonder how it would be during peak hours.

Some consolation that this idiotic practice is restricted to South Chennai and not (yet) in Central Chennai.

I believe the drums have been placed in front of the Chennai One Office this week, as one of our employees met with an accident and passed away few days back. You might notice that there would be a gap between the median where the drums are placed. People instead of using this gap for a U-turn, use it for coming through the wrong way to enter the Chennai One Office and get hit by the speeding cars and trucks.

I guess to reduce the speed of people travelling in the right direction the drums have been placed. It is hard to digest the fact that we are living in a city where people who practise the right way are forced to adjust to ensure people who practise the wrong way do not get criticized and hurt.

Have posted a message on the CCTP Facebook page about this barrel barrier today - but as always feel it will go unanswered.

Somehow i feel that CCTP should really step it up. I have heard some good things about them recently( lol, dont ask me where). I really feel that these guys should have a lot of self respect and sincerity because people have this habit of slacking off in gov't jobs.

The CCTP: Its a case of asking a barber to do the work of a cobbler. They have no basic training or knowledge of how things are done in advanced countries. These metal barricades are really foolish to say the least - they direct oncoming traffic into head-on collisions. Now they have sand filled barrels. Come on! In this day and age how can anyone educated enough to read a newspaper or browse the internet be so silly - I hear the CCTP are very technologocally advanced and internet savvy?? You dont need technlogy - you need common sense. One should see the cops behave on Sardar Patel Road (known to be the city's best expample of a traffic nightware) every time the CM crosses by. The road is riddles with parked cars and bikes all days which creates havoc for general traffic - when the CM comes the CCTP does a dance on steroids shouting and clearing the who road even of insects and rats. Every day at this time there are accidents caused by the panic caused by the CCTP - and you should see the cops shout obscenities at innocent motorists who have stopped their vehicles "as required by law" to attend to their accident formalities. Our cops cant enforce helmets, seatbelts, lane cutting - watch them drive their snazzy new cars and we can see where lies the problem: they dont know any better than any other crazy motorist. Pick some top brass from the CCTP and send them to an advanced asian country for some training.

Once coming back from DLF towards guindy just before the trade centre i saw these barricades placed. Usually this whole stretch will be crowded during the peak hours. That day the traffic was totally out of control. For one sec i thought of getting down and kicking those barricades.

They serve no purpose other than to create a traffic-jam in busy highways...

No doubt at all about these contraptions creating traffic-jams where none exist. Following snaps taken by me today at noon will make it clear.

Around 12PM (non-peak hour) am driving to my office on OMR. Have crossed Tidel signal without the usual long wait seen during peak-hour and am at SRP tools signal waiting for it to turn green. Not many vehicles around, so the drive on OMR should be a breeze. Or that is what I think, but the moment the signal turns green and vehicles move some 50metres or so, we are in a traffic jam - cars lined up 3-4 abreast as seen below. Reason being the drum-barricades which have suddenly turned the multi-lane OMR into a single-lane bottle-neck through which all the cars now have to pass slowly.

Once the bottle-neck is passed, see how traffic is on the road. Bare minimum. So basically these guys are creating traffic jams where none exist in the first place.

And the story repeats after some time when we come to another of these road-nuisances.